Scan barcode
megancook33's review against another edition
5.0
I thought this was a great history piece. Egan does a great job of introducing a wide cast of characters and managing them so you become engaged in each story without losing track of who's who. I felt emotionally connected with the characters and couldn't put it down. I also found it really interesting to draw learn about the era in a time when globally the economy is struggling. It isn't a far stretch to imagine the economic climate and environmental greediness causing us to shadow a similar story.
The book is very well done and I really recommend it!
The book is very well done and I really recommend it!
marct22's review against another edition
5.0
very good book, stunning when describing the days of the dust bowl. i also liked how he described some of the new deal efforts to help out the farmers and ranchers there trying to help them cope with dustfields and starving horses and cows. however, the postdustbowl chapter was exceedingly short. kinda disappointing when, after 300 pages of predustbowl and dustbowl, that less than ten pages covered the postdustbowl.
ashes_seymour's review
5.0
I wanted to read a book about a worse time than now, and this did the trick! I got completely obsessed with the Dust Bowl, to the point my husband asked me to stop with the Dust Bowl updates already.
sarahrigg's review
4.0
This was an intensely interesting and yet really depressing book. It is set in the 1930s and examines the reasons that wars, food politics and public policy contributed to one of the worst (or THE worst according to some) ecological disasters in the nation's history. It's told chronologically, year by year throughout the decade and follows several families and individuals in various states of the great Plains. I'd known about poverty and dust storms, but not in the sort of detail this book delves into. For instance, I knew people had to deal with lots of dust blowing into their homes, but not that the dust storms were often accompanied by such bad static electricity that it would burn out their gardens. After my husband and I both read the book, we also ended up watching the documentary "The Plow that Broke the Plains" that was sponsored by the U.S. government and also details, in about 25 minutes, the factors that lead to the Dust Bowl. It's in the public domain and you can watch it on-line for free if you're curious.
macman97's review against another edition
4.0
I knew this was a difficult time in our history, but I had no idea how bad. If this were fiction I'd think the author was overdoing it a lot. I learned a lot about the time, how people contributed to the problem, and how they survived.
hmoring's review against another edition
dark
informative
medium-paced
3.75
Interesting but there was a lot of content that could have been left out in my opinion.
kimberlynpeterson50's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.0
As our new administration withdraws from the Paris Climate Agreement, LA is on fire, and snow covers New Orleans, one would think that cautionary tales like Egan’s exhaustive description of the dust bowl and all its causes would make a difference in how we as individuals and the government that guides us care for the land. But no.
Egan paints a vivid if repetitive picture of the way humans tried to conquer a section of the Midwest and southern US, tearing out native grasses, attempting to farm, and hunkering down as the denuded earth blew up around them. After years of choking dust storms, deaths by dust pneumonia, and an inability to grow even the smallest amounts of food to sustain a family, still some folks and the federal government refused to understand. No amount of scientific evidence or well-researched explanations of what to do next helped. Fast forward 90 years, and we continue to exhibit this pattern of stubborn hubris and willful ignorance.
This is not a book to make you feel hopeful about the future or even proud of how Americans faced challenges. Readers can admire the strength of people who survived terrible loss and learn about a dark spot in US history. But they may also leave this book wondering if things will ever get better.
Egan paints a vivid if repetitive picture of the way humans tried to conquer a section of the Midwest and southern US, tearing out native grasses, attempting to farm, and hunkering down as the denuded earth blew up around them. After years of choking dust storms, deaths by dust pneumonia, and an inability to grow even the smallest amounts of food to sustain a family, still some folks and the federal government refused to understand. No amount of scientific evidence or well-researched explanations of what to do next helped. Fast forward 90 years, and we continue to exhibit this pattern of stubborn hubris and willful ignorance.
This is not a book to make you feel hopeful about the future or even proud of how Americans faced challenges. Readers can admire the strength of people who survived terrible loss and learn about a dark spot in US history. But they may also leave this book wondering if things will ever get better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Death